METHODS AND TERMS: FREQUENCIES
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Frequencies of given types of behavior have been expressed with reference to units of time. In the text common behavior is generally expressed in number of times per week; less common behavior is expressed in number of times per year. In the tables frequencies are almost always given in terms of per week. Unless otherwise stipulated, these units of time refer to time lived outside of institutions.
We have calculated both mean and median frequencies. In the text we give preference to the median since it is less influenced by extremes. In small samples the inclusion of even one individual with extremely high frequencies can render mean frequency almost useless. These mean and median frequencies are usually given in terms of our five-year age-periods, for instance the median frequency of premarital coitus between ages twenty-one to twenty-five.
In addition to the “per week” and “per year” frequencies, the frequencies of certain other events are given simply as the number of times they occurred up to the date when the person was interviewed. Such events include, for example, the number of times married and the number of offenses.
In discussing frequency, we must make clear whether we refer to frequency of activity resulting in orgasm or frequency of activity regardless of whether or not it led to orgasm. Frequencies of petting to climax (orgasm) and dreams leading to orgasm are by definition clear. In our interviews, the questions concerning postpubertal self-masturbation are so devised that masturbation frequency is always in terms of orgasm. Coitus and coitus ending in orgasm are essentially synonymous for the male. Ejaculatory impotence and coitus reservatus are too rare in our present study to merit attention here. Discrepancy between frequency of activity and frequency of orgasm appears only in relation to homosexuality and animal contacts. For homosexuality, all our mean and median frequencies represent orgasm only; our frequencies based on the number of experiences a year outside institutions measure activity regardless of orgasm. The frequencies of animal contact are expressed in terms of orgasm frequencies.
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